icolas 'Sparth' Bouvier is one of the four concept artists brought together to author Ballistic Publishing’s d’artiste: Concept Art. Now available to order directly from Ballistic Publishing, d'artiste: Concept Art presents the techniques of leading concept artists Viktor Antonov, George Hull, Andrew Jones and Nicolas “Sparth” Bouvier.

In this masterclass tutorial book, these four authors bring readers through concept art techniques used to create environments, characters and machinery for film, television and video games.

Nicolas ‘Sparth’ Bouvier has been an active artistic director and concept designer in the gaming industry since 1996. Born in France, he now lives in Dallas, Texas, where he is working for the company id Software. He admits a fascination for technological discoveries, space, all sorts of flying objects, as well as everything connected to the depiction of the future. One of his great passions is contemporary architecture, where he applies principles in his own art, with an experimental and original approach. He also harbors a fascination for modern skyscrapers, although he admits that he wouldn’t be able to live too high above the ground himself.

I started drawing and painting at a very early age—probably around five years old. I imagined stories with talking animals who I put in humorous situations. I guess it was the only thing in which I felt differently, thought differently, and acted differently. Later on, my mother encouraged me to continue along the same path. For this reason, I logically felt there was really something going on when I created, and I’ve continued along this path ever since.

At 15 years old my art teacher told me I was going to the “Art Deco” school in Paris—the best art-related school with the beaux arts at that time. My teacher was more convinced than I was that I would make it there! Four years later, I passed the exams for this

school in the first year. It was really a personal challenge at the time, as the exams were tough. At that age, my philosophy was to rush forward and never look back, no matter the obstacles. At times when doubts crept in on whether or not I would make it, the philosophy gave me the confidence to continue.